What to eat before a race

One of the questions that friends who run have asked me many times is what eat before a race. In this article I am going to indicate a series of nutritional recommendations before facing a competition running.

What to drink and eat before a race?

It is very important to ingest alimesuitable nts in the hours before a competition to obtain a optimal sports performance y avoid possible discomfort that prevent you from competing at the best level during the race.

It is necessary to emphasize that the sports season has several phases (rest, preparation, competition and post-competition) and therefore thelimentation will not be the same at different times of the season.

It is also important when talking about what to eat before a race to differentiate between the needs of highly trained people (regular or elite athletes) and people who run for fun or leisure (popular runners and runners), since the energy pathways used during physical activity will not be the same. Obviously, any elite athlete knows what to eat before a race, but among popular runners it is common to find great ignorance.

While the highly trained runner uses intramuscular fatty acid oxidation and is much less dependent on muscle glycogen (glucose store), the less trained athlete consumes a greater amount of carbohydrates (glucose) and a lower proportion of fatty acids. This supposes a lower sports performance in the case of the less trained athlete, because glycogen is very limited, while fatty acids can be used for a longer time.

 Nutritional recommendations to face a competition

But what, when and how should we eat before a race? We are going to see the what, when and how of what to eat and drink before facing a demanding physical activity.

– About 3 hours before physical activity

3 hours before facing the test, a intake rich in alimefoods rich in carbohydrates (since glucose shortage is directly related to fatigue and decreased sports performance) and to a lesser extentlimented with protein, fiber and fat.

If we have the competition in the morning, my breakfast proposals would be the following:

• Milk or vegetable drink with cereals.
• Milk or vegetable drink with toast with honey.
• Milk or vegetable drink with oats.

If we have the competition in the afternoon, my lunch/meal proposal would be the following:

• pasta or rice (always white) with a small amount of vegetables and a little bit of tuna.

Why pasta or white rice? Well, because its digestion is much faster and therefore the assimilation of its nutrients is also much faster. Furthermore, to ensure correct and rapid assimilation, both pasta and rice must be well cooked and not "al dente" because it will be much more difficult to digest.

– Between 30 and 60 minutes before physical activity

The protocol at this time will start with 2-3 glasses of water about 15-20 minutes before making this intake to avoid slowing down digestion.

between the tolimeIn the absence of approximately 1 hour before the start of the test, it is necessary to include aliments of easy digestion as bread with honey, quince or jam; Skimmed yoghurts, non-whole grain cereals, low-fat biscuits, non-whole muesli, fruit or dried fruit.

All of this can be replaced by a few 300-500ml of isotonic drink rehydration sugar.

– Between 5 and 10 minutes before the start of the test

Ingest isotonic drink sugary orlimeFoods in small quantities that are very easy to digest, such as dried fruits. In case you do not consume isotonic drinks at the moment, take 2-3 glasses of water.

Everything must be trained before the race: also food and drink

A very important warning is that everything you eat or drink before the race must have been tried several times previously on training days. On the day of the competition you do not have to do experiments: no need to trylimeFoods or drinks that we have not tried before and we are sure that they feel good to us.

It is recommended try everything in training first and adapt these guidelines to our protocol. I give an example: the isotonic drink 5 minutes before the start may not feel good, but a handful of raisins and dried apricots do; Or that an hour before you don't feel like a jam sandwich but you do feel like some non-integral cookies. It is very important that each athlete knows himself as well as possible and knows with certainty what tolimeFood and drinks work for you and feel good.

None of the advice or recommendations on what to eat before a race that appear in this article (or in that of any other nutrition specialist) should be put into practice on the day of the race as it is possible for discomfort, allergies, intolerances, hypoglycemia...

I insist again that it is vitally important do not introduce changes or do tests on our a guidelineslimentation the day of competition because we can ruin the preparation of many months for a foolish thing. Not only do you have to train resistance, strength or elasticity, but also you have to train thelimentation and hydration, especially when we face tests that will require a prolonged and constant effort of more than 60 or 90 minutes.

Of course, you don't have to worry as much about what to eat before a 5K race as what to eat before a half marathon or a marathon. My advice to those runners who intend to prepare for a competition such as the half marathon or the marathon is to see a sports nutritionist for advice and guidance on the correctlimentation that they must incorporate into their planning for the sporting objective.

Text to 42K of :

Ismael Martinez Garcia

Dietitian-nutritionist

Dietitian - Nutritionist from the University of Valencia. Master in Nutrition in performance in endurance/ultra-resistance sports from the Spanish Academy of Nutrition. Collegiate number CV00678 in the College of Dietitians and Nutritionists of the Valencian Community
Diet Valencia

Other entries by Ismael Martínez García

• Immunonutrients, the reinforcement for our defenses
• Eating correctly, key to improving as a runner
• Gastrointestinal problems, risk factors and solutions